Assignment for Week 4, Due October 29th

Part 1: PlaySpent

Go to the Play Spent website and play through the simulation at least once.

Part 2: Develop a Budget and Living Wage estimation

 Using the resources handed out in class and sent out via email (and/or any others you might find on your own, but cite these sources) complete your budget making worksheet (available here).  While you work through your budget keep in mind the following:

Your budget must be realistic and legal.  For instance it is neither realistic nor legal for a couple with a baby to live in a studio apartment (this would exceed maximum occupancy laws).  The further away from San Diego proper that you chose to locate your home, the more your commute budget will be.  Today it is neither legal nor advisable for someone to be uninsured.  Keep these sorts of realities in mind while constructing your budget, and remember this is a living wage, not a subsistence wage nor a preferred wage.

If you want assistance decided about "savings" you can check out this link:

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/ira-savings-calculator.aspx

 Additional rental rates here :

http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CA-San-Diego-Pricing.html

Additional information on Childcare:

http://blog.thebump.com/2012/09/04/average-child-care-costs-in-each-state-wheres-yours-on-this-list/
   

 Some facts to think about…

• In 2012, 49.0 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 33.1 million adults and 15.9 million children. Reference here
• The National Poverty Level threshold in 2011 for a Family of 4 was $22,350 
• The Average cost of having your appendix removed without insurance is $9,931 – does not include emergency room visit 
• Average cost of emergency room visit with no test or scans for a minor problem is $769 - $1423  
• Average cost of emergency room visit if life threatening (not counting surgery or overnight stay in hospital), includes imaging tests $9,931 

 Part 3: Compare your estimated living wage to the one developed by the folks over at MIT 

Bring your Budget and Estimated Living Wage worksheet to class with you on Wednesday (10/29) 

Additional Resources for Budget Creation: 

Healthcare cost - you may use this calculator to find out how much it might cost your imaginary family to have insurance through the Affordable Care act:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/09/30/226456791/how-much-will-obamacare-cost-me-try-our-calculator

Class ,Status, Party

Weber's essay "Class, Status, Party" is a response to Marx's (and other theorists like him) approach to economic class.





Status:

Weber writes,

"For example, only the resident of a certain street ('the street') is considered as belonging to 'society,' is qualified for social intercourse, and is visited and invited. Above all, this differentation evolves in such a way as to make for strict submission to the fashion that is dominant at a given time in society...[Such submission to fashion] is considered to be an indication of the fact that a given man pretends to qualify as a gentleman. This submission decides, at least prima facie, that he will be treated as such. And this recognition becomes just as important for his employment chances in 'swank' establishments, and above all, for social intercourse and marriage with 'esteemed' families" (Weber, p. 59).

The appearance of status honor, and the attainment of status honor via marriage can be instrumental in providing power for an individual.  In the example that Weber

Warner: My family expects a lot from me.
Elle: - Right. 

Warner: - I expect a lot from me. 

       I plan on running for office someday.
Elle: I fully support that. You know that.
Warner: Absolutely. But the thing is...Elle,

        if I'm gonna be a senator by the time I'm 30

        I need to stop dicking around.
Elle: Warner, I completely agree.
Warner: That's why I think it's time for us...
        Elle, pooh bear...
Elle: - I do. 

Warner: - I think we should break up.
Elle: What?

Warner:I've been thinking, and it's the right

        thing to do.
Elle: You're breaking up with me?
      I thought you were proposing.
Warner: Proposing?  Elle, if I'm going to be a senator...

        I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn. 

Elle: So, you're breaking up with me because I'm too... blonde?!

Warner: No, that's not entirely true— 

Elle: Then what? My boobs are too big? 

[Everyone in the resturant hears this and turns to their table] 

Warner: [whispers] Your boobs are fine.

Elle: So when you said that you would always love me...you were just dicking around?
Warner: Elle, I do love you. I just can't marry you. You have no idea of the pressure that I am under.
       My family has five generations of senators.  My brother's in the top three at Yale Law.

       He just got engaged to a Vanderbilt,for Christ's sake. 

...

Warner: Elle, believe me. I never expected to do this...
        but I think it's the right thing.
Elle: How can it be the right thing when we're not together?
Warner: I have to think of my future...
        and what my family expects of me.
Elle: So you're breaking up with me...

      because you're afraid your family won't like me?
      Everybody likes me.
Warner: East Coast people are different.
Elle: Because I'm not a Vanderbilt, suddenly I'm white trash?
      I grew up in Bel Air! Across the street from Aaron Spelling!
      Most people would agree that's a lot better...than some stinky old Vanderbilt!

In this exchange we can see an example of status being different from class.

Economically speaking, Elle and Warner are from the same class, however they come from 

sufficiently different backgrounds that the status of their families differ.  Elle is less

aware of this status difference, but Warner is aware. He finds their status difference of 

particular importance as he plans to run for office, this means that he wishes to join a pary

and to parlay his class and status into power for that party and for himself. In order to do

so he must wed a woman who has status comparable,or preferably superior, to his own. 

Discussion Questions:  Does Elle have status?  How is it different than the status offered by

a Vanderbilt?  What might a Vanderbilt have to offer (beyond status or as part of her status) 

that Elle does not? 

False Conscious (Marxism) and The Hunger Games

An important concept that Marx introduces to explain the failure of the proletariat to recognize their position as a unified class and their need to band together in order to overthrow capitalism.  One way to think about false consciousness is the sense of hope that individual people have that they might rise to a position within the ranks of the Bourgeoisie.

This scene from the Movie "The Hunger Games" is analogous to the concept of false consciousness.  In this scene President Snow explains why The Hunger Games has a victor, rather than having all participants die, or simply rounding up the sacrifices and executing them.

President Snow: Seneca... why do you think we have a winner?
Seneca Crane: [frowns] What do you mean?
President Snow: I mean, why do we have a winner? I mean, if we just wanted to intimidate the districts, why not round up twenty-four of them at random and execute them all at once? Be a lot faster.
[Seneca just stares, confused]
President Snow: Hope.
Seneca Crane: Hope?
President Snow: Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained.
Seneca Crane: So...?
President Snow: So, CONTAIN it.

As has been noted by numerous literary and internet commentators The Hunger Games is more than a dystopian thriller, it also contains commentary and critique about our current political and economic systems.  In the fictional world of the Hunger Games an oppressive government of a fictional country named Panem has lead to vast wealth inequality: both in terms of intradistrict wealth and in comparing the capital city to the districts.   In part this wealth disparity has resulted from a failed rebellion, though it seems the disparity may also have been the initial cause of the rebellion.  In this fictional account, the capital city is filled with wealthy elites (Bourgeoisie) who own the means of production and live in a state of decadence and ease.  The proletariat are separated into 12 districts and their lives are filled with suffering and work. The separation into districts can be interpreted as an attempt to prevent further rebellion by making class identification more difficult for these workers.  The Hunger Games are an annual event where two youths (1 boy and 1 girl) are chosen from each district to compete in a battle to the death - until only one competitor remains.  In additional to providing the hope that President Snow mentions in the above clip, these games foster resentment and competition between the districts and reinforce the cultural structure within Panem that the districts deserve to be punished for their crime of rebellion.  This is particularly true as districts 1 & 2 have more resources than the other 10, allowing them to train tributes and more often win the games than other districts - this can be thought of as analogous to the Petite Bourgeoisie. 








 

Assignment for Week 3 (October 22)

Weber, Marx and Bourdieu all argue that various cultural structures (values, ideology, beliefs) uphold and support the social structure of capitalism. Though Marx and Weber disagree about the order of causation between capitalism and the cultural beliefs which support it, and which cultural beliefs those are.

Your assignment for next week is to identify something in United States culture that represents a cultural structure that upholds capitalism.  This can be an artifact of material culture (an object or image), a saying, or a popular individual.

For class on Wednesday:

1) Identify the example you have chosen.  You may bring in a picture, an object or simply right out a description.

2) Identify which cultural structure this example represents, and which theorist you would associate this example with.

3) Write a brief statement explaining how the example you have chosen represents the cultural structure you have chosen.

Be prepared to share you example with your peers.


Example Answer 1:

1) The popular saying attributed to Ben Franklin "A penny saved is a penny earned"

2) This saying represents the cultural structure of protestant asceticism as described by Weber.

3) Protestant asceticism was the value held by Protestants that one should live a life that is simple with few material comforts, this lent itself to Capitalism as it encouraged reinvestment of funds rather than spending funds on material possessions.  A penny saved is a penny earned encourages the saving of money rather than the spending of money on material comforts.

Theory: Durkheim and Functionalism

 Émile Durkheim was interested in the social causes of suicide.  Why, he wondered, were some groups more prone to suicide than others? Rather than focus upon the individual reasons for suicide (private troubles) he wanted to understand the social structures influenced the choice for suicide (public problems).  Remember, C. Wright Mills told us that private troubles are "about an individual’s character and with those limited areas of social life of which he is directly and personally aware"(Mills 1967: 395-6).  The trick of the sociological imagination is in understanding the ways that private troubles are sometimes ‘matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the limited range of his life’ (Mills 1967: 396; Mills 1959: 8) and extend to the level of cultural and social structures.

Before we delve into the types of suicide that Durkheim's study revealed it might help to first think about the way that Durkheim understood society. Durkheim's Sociology is what we would today term Structural Functionalism.  He saw the base state of society as a peaceful state - society (and those within it) are inclined toward homeostasis (internal stability) and functionality.  Durkheim likened society to a machine (mechanical solidarity) or to a body (biological solidarity).  Both concepts point to the ways that individuals within a society interconnect, depend upon, and relate to one and other.  The clip below is from the movie Hugo - in it you will hear a very good description of a structural functional approach to society.


Functionalism - society as a great machine.

"Hugo Cabret: I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too."

"Hugo Cabret: Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do... Maybe it's the same with people. If you lose your purpose... it's like you're broken."




Hugo's observations reflect the worldview of functionalism, society is meant to function and we all have a part in that society.  If there is conflict or unrest then there is something wrong with society structurally.  Similarly, if an individual cannot find their place within society they will have negative life chances.

Durkheim's Ideas About Suicide

Your assigned reading is about Egoistic suicide, but this is only one of four kinds of suicide that Durkheim described.  Durkheim delineated four types of suicide: Egoistic, Fatalistic, Anomic, and Altruistic.  Durkheim theorized that these different types of suicide resulted from different ways that individuals related (or failed to relate) to society.  These relations can be conceived along two axis: The level of Social Integration and The level of Moral Regulation/Individuation.

Welcome Fall 2014 Sociology 1 Students!

Welcome to your class blog!  As I have been a TA for this course before you will find lots of resources and past assignment.

I invite you to take a look around the blog:  Check out the tags, the tabs, and past entries!

See you all on Wednesday!

~Julia